Paula Deen’s now controversial police report from 1987 (Courtesy of Inside Edition)
A police report related to Paula Deen’s current racial discrimination controversy has been made public.
Embattled Deen said in a May 17 deposition stemming from a $1.2 million discrimination lawsuit against her that the only time she used the N-word was in 1987, when she was held at gunpoint.
The police report, obtained by Inside Edition, reveals Deen’s statement after being the victim of a bank robbery.
“The man was wearing a homemade mask, green. …Very nervous, but was also very abrupt and demanding. He never took the gun out of my face,” she wrote in her own handwriting. “The robber held a small, worn paper sack. He said, ‘Fill it up. Fill it up, and quick. Fill it with $100 bills.’ …Never taking the gun off of me.”
The alleged robber’s account of the incident is also included: “I was surprised when I walked in and saw the lady that was the teller at the window, because I knew her from the downtown bank where I normally bank. I thought she would recognize me because there were some holes in the stocking covering my face. I can’t remember her name, but I know who she is. She is blonde, attractive.”
The leaked police report follows the TV chef’s teary-eyed “Today” interview in which she tried to explain that she’s not a racist despite admitting under oath, in a deposition, that she’s used racial slurs in the past.
“The day I used that word — it was a world ago. It was 30 years ago. I had had a gun put to my head,” Deen explained in rambling retelling of the robbery.
“[Lawyers] asked me in all my 66 years on earth had I ever used it. That man was so frightened that day he put the gun to my head . . . I had gone out on a limb for him and gotten him a loan,” she said.
Deen then denied reports that she had admitted to using the N-word many times over the years in jokes, “[The N-word] is just not a part of who we are.”